


A Teacher's Assistant

by rigormortises



Category: Rick and Morty
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Gen, this can be read as platonic! i hope!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-10-13
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:08:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26993428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rigormortises/pseuds/rigormortises
Summary: Teacher's Assistant Morty has gotten used to his new life.
Relationships: Rick Sanchez/Morty Smith
Comments: 2
Kudos: 15





	A Teacher's Assistant

**Author's Note:**

> This is very disjointed and I guess you could call it maybe like... An exploration or something of a headcanon? This is basically just a glorified setting!
> 
> Almost all of this is just headcanon stuff because I.... I want to believe...! It doesn't completely adhere to how the Morty Academy is like in the show, but I hope you enjoy this anyway!

In a small house on the Citadel, Morty’s day began as it always did. 

The scent of pancakes greets him as he enters the kitchen, but his Rick, standing over the stove, does not. Morty walks over to their coffee maker and pours out a mug of coffee before adding what looks like an almost ungodly amount of sugar and a bit of cream into it. He glances at the contents of the mug, and glances over at Rick, pausing for a moment before taking a sip.

“Ew!” he says, sticking his tongue out and recoiling. It was insanely sweet, but the bitterness was front and center, untempered and unhindered by the cream.

“Stop fucking taking sips if you already know you hate it, Morty.” 

He turns to Rick, who’s still minding the stove. “I just wanna try liking the stuff you like, i-it’s good to get out of my comfort zone sometimes!”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever Morty.” his Rick replies, putting the last pancake on the stack before bringing it over to the table, “Just don’t bitch about it.”

Morty’s already seated at the table before Rick sets the plate down. He gives him a smile, now fully awake and almost ready for the day.

“Good morning, Rick!” 

“Morning, Morty.” 

* * *

Morty trails behind Rick as they walk to the academy, his small briefcase pinned under his arm as he fiddles with his bowtie. It’s about an hour before class starts, and today was about to be a busy one, as usual. He stops right outside the doors of the Morty Academy, struggling to make his bowtie look presentable. .

Rick lets out a sigh before walking back over to him, putting down his heavy bag full of test papers and modules. “Should’ve just let me do this from the start, Morty, you know we got shit to do today.” he says, as he neatly ties Morty’s bowtie. 

“Thanks, Rick!” he says, following after him again. They walk the empty halls of the academy until they reach the faculty room. Rick drops the bag on his desk, a considerable thud echoing around the empty room. Morty sits in Rick’s chair, sinking into the soft pleather office chair before putting his briefcase on his lap and opening it. Inside were just a couple of loose sheets of paper, some pens and markers, and a binder full of pogs. He gets up from the chair when Rick turns it around to face him, giving him a stern look. Morty sits at his own desk, which was next to Rick’s. It’s much smaller, and his seat isn’t a fancy office chair, but he doesn’t mind. 

“Hey, Rick?” Morty asks as he closes up his suitcase, “H-how come I don’t get to go to Morty School?”

“You’re already going to the Morty School, Morty. Where the fuck do you think we are?”

Morty frowns. “I know, but how come I- Why am I a teacher’s assistant? Shouldn’t I go take Morty classes too?”

Rick rolls his eyes, letting out an exasperated sigh. “Are you seriously asking me that, Morty?”

"Yeah, Rick, I-" but he cuts himself off when he sees Rick, disinterested, turn away from him to rummage around the papers in his bag.

“Sort.” Rick says, dumping a small pile of answered test papers onto Morty’s desk. He turns back to his own desk, with a much larger pile on his table. Morty nods, and gets to it immediately. 

Time flies by, and right as reading his own handwriting over and over starts to make him go cross-eyed, the bell rings. Rick sighs and takes out a huge stack of blank test papers from under his desk. 

“Carry this, Morty.” Rick says, as he takes most of the stack of papers and walks off, leaving Morty with an obviously smaller pile. He quickly packs up his briefcase before picking the pile up and walking after Rick. The halls of the academy were now filled with other Mortys, talking to each other at their lockers, doing whatever Mortys do. A couple of them greet Morty as they walk by, and he cheerfully greets back.

“Hey, T.A. Morty!”

Morty stops for a moment, still unused to being referred to by that title. After all, he’s spent so long being-

“Is that today’s test?” the student Morty asks, walking next to him, “Mind if I take a peek, get a little head start? Maybe it’ll give me a fighting chance!” 

Morty laughs, but Rick doesn’t. He says nothing, but the glare he shoots at the student communicates everything. He shakes his head as the student runs off, pulling Morty closer to him as they both continue walking.

* * *

“You all know the test-taking protocol. Hopefully you don’t screw it up, since this may be the only thing keeping you out of Mortytown. You have one hour.” Rick says, as his Morty hands out test papers to the students. As the last student takes his test paper, he gives the room a stern stare.

“You may start now.” 

The Mortys begin writing immediately, the sound of their pens upon paper all scratching to the same rhythm. 

Half an hour into the test, and Morty’s already bored out of his mind. He opens up his briefcase and takes out his binder, opening it up to reveal a multitude of pogs. He spends some time rearranging them, but glances up to look over the class. Nothing’s out of the ordinary with the class, they students all writing away quietly. 

His Rick wasn’t watching the class at all, though. He looks at Rick, who’s staring at him with a fond look in his eyes. He tilts his head as if to ask if there’s something wrong, but Rick only ruffles his hair before turning his attention back to the class. 

* * *

A long day of school later, and Rick and Morty finally return to their small home together. They share a quiet dinner together and immediately get to checking papers. 

“God, Morty. Your handwriting’s reaaal shit, ain’t it?” Rick says, not looking up from the papers. “Makes checking papers a real bitch to do.”

Morty ignores him. After all, he can't control how other Mortys write, right? He sighs and continues checking papers. He doesn’t fully understand  _ why _ Mortys have to answer these tests, since all the answers are virtually the same anyway. It sure is a waste of time to answer them, and it’s an even greater waste to spend an evening checking them, but...

“Do you think I’d graduate from Morty Academy?”

Rick sighs and rolls his eyes again. The question wasn’t even worth answering to him, but he puts a hand on Morty’s shoulder before looking him straight in the eyes. 

“Why do you think you’re helping me check papers now, Morty?”

It was completely dark outside when they finished checking the last of the papers. Morty felt like it was a total waste of time (he could have been watching TV!), but he knows that Rick has some weird hang-ups about discrepancies between answers. Morty got ready for bed much earlier than Rick, who shooed him along. Something about Morty taking too long in the bathroom anyway, and being done by the time that he gets out. 

The long hours spent looking over checking papers has finally gotten to him, and Morty decides its time to turn in. 

"Goodnight, Rick!" he says, cheerful as ever.

“You sure you can sleep on your own tonight?” 

“Yeah, Rick. I’ll be fine tonight, don’t worry about it!” 

“You promise? I don’t want you fucking knocking on my door in the dead of night because you’re worrying about shit again.”

“I-It’s okay now, Rick. I promise” 

* * *

As Rick predicts, nearly an hour later, he hears a knock on his door.

“I fucking told you, Morty.” he says, as he moves over to one side of the bed. Morty climbs in and gets underneath the blanket, huddling close to Rick. He’s sobbing. Rick puts an arm around him and pats him, trying to soothe him. 

“Don’t worry about it Morty, you couldn’t have done anything about it.” he says, still patting Morty’s back.

“I-I could have- I could have saved them Rick, I know I could have and-”

“Morty.” Rick says, cutting him off, “There was nothing you could do.”

Morty goes silent for a moment.

“W-What if you go away? Like they did?”

Rick thinks back to that day when he lost nearly everything. 

* * *

Lawyer Morty turns back right as he sees most of the Council get taken out. He falls to his knees at the sight that greets him - Councilmembers, his Ricks, all dead. His mind races as adrenaline pumps through his veins, telling him to get out of there, but all he can do is cry. 

Through his tears and loud, grief-filled wailing, he hears a faint voice call out to him.

“M... Morty...” 

He looks up, and he sees Maximums Rickimus on the floor, reaching out towards him. There’s light in his eyes but Morty knows that if he doesn't act fast, it’s going to fade soon. He manages to get his arm around his shoulder and he drags him out of the ruined chambers, saving the only remaining member of the Council.

* * *

“W-Why couldn’t I-” Morty chokes back a sob, “Why couldn’t I save everyone?”

“I was the only one left, Morty.”

“W-What if-" he says, obviously panicked by the idea swirling around in his head, "You- I-”

“It’s okay, Morty." Rick replies, bringing him in closer for a one-armed hug. "I’m never going to leave you all alone.”

He rests his head on Rick’s chest, wiping away his tears before looking up at him. “Could you tell me about places we could have adventures in?”

“Sure thing, Morty.”

Between the gentle pats on his head and Rick quietly telling him stories about the stars and what lay beyond them, Morty’s eyes finally begin to close, a small smile gracing his features. He falls asleep and dreams of the stars, what lay beyond them, and the one person who will never leave him behind. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Hello hello!
> 
> This is the first time I've ever wrote a fic instead of just tweeting out a bunch of disjointed thoughts!
> 
> It's pretty short, and the writing is really messy, but I just wanted to get this out of my drafts already since it's been sitting there for around two months now!
> 
> Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
